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Breadcrumb trail

Canadian wheat classes

Find varieties by class

Check if your variety of wheat belongs to a Canadian class. The variety designation lists help producers and grain handlers identify which varieties are eligible for the top grades of each class.

Canadian wheat varieties fall into classes and each class is unique. The varieties within each class are grouped by their functional characteristics. For example, varieties in the Canada Prairie Spring Red class have medium hard kernels and medium dough strength. Canadian wheat classes are categorized by Canada Western and Canada Eastern, the regions in which the varieties are grown.

Eastern Canadian wheat classes

Characteristics and end uses of the ten milling classes of eastern Canadian wheat

Class

Characteristics

End uses

Canada Eastern Red (CER)

any registered variety of red wheat

three grades

cakes, pastry, cereal, crackers, biscuits and filling

Canada Eastern Red Spring (CERS)

hard red spring wheat

superior milling and baking quality

three milling grades

used for production of high volume pan bread

used alone or in blends with other wheat for hearth bread, steamed bread, noodles, flat bread, common wheat pasta

Canada Western Special Purpose wheat class description

Varieties registered as Canada Western Special Purpose are not required to meet the strict quality requirements of milling classes. Generally, varieties in this class are not appropriate for milling because of their high starch and low protein content, which affects end-use characteristics of the grain.

Varieties in the Canada Western Special Purpose wheat class are typically high-yielding. Due to the combination of high starch and low protein, they are most suitable for uses such as ethanol product or animal feed.

Varieties within this class may look similar to varieties within other classes of wheat.